Improvement in game-boards



improvement in Game.Boards.

N0. 123,001, Patentedlan.23, I872.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERRMAN O. DREXEL, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND JOHN A. GRIFFIN, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN GAME-BOARDS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 123,001, dated January 23, 1872.

SPECIFICATION. To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERRMAN G. DREXEL, of Baltimore, in the county of Baltimore and State of Maryland, have invented certain Improvements in Toy, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanyin g drawing.

My invention relates to a game-board, intended as a substitute for dice, for selecting numbers by chance; and consists in a novel arrangement of a stationary dial provided with numbers and revolving arms or pointers operated by a sliding bar, as hereinafter described.

Figure l is a top-plan view of my device. Fig. 2 is a bottom-plan view of the same; and Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-section of the same on the line X X of Fig. 1.

In constructing my device I first make a circular case or body, A, and secure in its upper side a stationary dial-plate, B, which I provide with a circular row or series of openings, at, as shown in all the figures, each opening having a number annexed to it, as shown in Fig. 1. Under the center of the dial I mount a vertical shaft or spindle, 0, provided with three rigid horizontal arms, D, and with a pinion, E, having the same number of teeth as there are openings in the dial. By turning the pinion the arms are caused to revolve and their outer ends carried around under the openings a, so that when they stop under the openings they can be seen from above. The ends of the arms I provide with heads or plates, which are either colored or polished, so that they will quickly catch the eye of the player. I also mount under the dial a sliding bar, G, one end of which projects out through the side of the case and has a knob attached to it, while the opposite end is provided with a springpawl or arm, H, to engage with and turn the pinion. When the bar G is pushed inward the pawl H engages with the pinion E and forces it around so as to bring the ends of the arms D in position under openings a, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and hold them there. When the bar is drawn outward the pawl sets the pinion in motion and is drawn back away from it, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, so as to permit it and the arm to revolve freely. While the arms are revolving the bar is again pushed inward, when the pawl, enga ing in the pinion, stops it and turns it backward so as to bring the ends of the arms under some of the openings a, as before described. The same result will of course be accomplished if the arms are permitted to stop their revolution before the bar is shoved inward; but it is preferred to stop them while in motion on account of the greater uncertainty as to the position they will assume. By providing the pinion with the same number of teeth that the dial has openings, and then properly limiting the movement of the sliding bar, the pawl is caused to bring the arms exactly under the openings every time, and by arranging the parts so that when the pawl is moved inward the pawl moves past the center of the pinion, as shown in Fig. 2, the pawl is caused to lock the pinion and prevent the arms from moving out of position. It is obvious that when the bar is forced inward while the arms are in motion the pawl may stop the pinion and arms at any point, and that each arm is just as likely to stop under one opening as another; and also, that there is the same uncertainty as to the position of the arms if they are allowed to stop before the bar is pushed in, for the reason that there is no certainty as to the point where they will cease. It will therefore be seen that it is a matter of entire chance and uncertainty as to which openings the arms will stop under, and consequently that no skill or calculation will serve to control the position of the arms.

In using my device the bar is drawn out quickly to give the arms a rapid motion, and then immediately pushed back again to stop and hold the arms, the ends of which may be seen through the openings under which they may chance to stop, the numbers adjacent to such openings being of course the ones indicated. There may of course be any desired number of the arms D, and they may be used with different styles of dials. Instead of having the stationary dial provided with numbers the numbers may be applied to a revolving dial, which may be used in place of the arms, and be operated in the same manner in which they are, the stationary top dial being in such case simply provided with one or more openings,through which the numbers may be seen.

Having thus described my invention, what.

1 claim isl. A device for casting numbers, consisting with the sliding bar G and. pawl H, constructed of a case, A, dial B, one or more revolving and arranged substantially as and for the purarms, D, pinion E, and sliding bar G, with pose set forth. pawl H attached, when constructed and ar- HERRMAN O. DREXEL. ranged to operate substantially as herein described. Witnesses:

2. The combination of the pinion E and one H. B. MUNN, or more revolving arms or their equivalent J. MGKENNEY.- 

